Small automatic car with electric handbrake

Nebbit

Hello

My daughter is learning to drive and we are looking for a small automatic car for her, for up to around £7000. She wants one with an electric handbrake because that is what she is used to on her instructor's car. I would be glad of any suggestions.

Mildly_Miffed

Personally, I'd have thought looking for one WITHOUT an electronic handbrake made more sense, unless she's never planning on driving anything with a manual handbrake in her life. She will still need to demonstrate in her test that she knows how and when to operate the handbrake manually, both apply and release.

MattMattMattUK

Buy whatever is decent, do not limit yourself to automatic or electric handbrake, people adapt easily.

daveyjp

On the basis of the specific requirements and limited budget a Nissan Leaf.

fatbelly

If she's taking the test in an automatic then she will get an automatic-only licence, which does limit her choice of car.

My favourite small car is the Vw Up family but wouldn't want their auto gearbox, which isn't a proper auto but an automated manual. Ideally you want a traditional auto box and I'm not sure which of the following has those.

For 7k I'd be looking at 10-12 year old Honda Jazz, Nissan Micra, Kia Picanto/Venga or the Hyundai equivalents.

Part of driving is getting used to the car you are in, so she will have to get used to a conventional handbrake.

Brie

contrary to what @fatbelly suggests I love the VW up automatic. it's small so easy to maneuver and fits into small spaces so easy for those parallel parks and 3 point turns. Electric handbrake? No idea. but as a plus I think it's likely to be considered too dull a car to get the dreadful new driver rates. Current licence cost is about £20 and the insurance for an ancient driver with a good record is under £300.

daveyjp

My daughter has a manual handbrake automatic Suzuki. Before a recent service I noted the handbrake was almost at top of travel and it needed tightening. She admitted she wouldn't know as she never uses it.

QrizB

Mrs QrizB has a VW e-UP! (the electric UP!) and loves it. You can get one of those (or a Seat Mii, or a Skoda Citigo) for that budget. They do however all have a manual handbrake not an electrical one.

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6657411/small-automatic-car-with-electric-handbrake

Do you have the option to charge a EV?

Given many of the above sugestions are EV's?

Car_54

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81903892#Comment_81903892

There is nothing in the DVSA's test instructions to suggest that such a demonstration is required.

IOWJJBTM2025

If buying a car to learn to drive and take a driving test in. The car must have good all round visibility.

Remember that the driving test examiner could be of a larger frame - make sure that the car is not too tight.

Agree with Fatbelly if he is talking about semi-automatic. I used to have a Toyota Aygo Semi Automatic and whist it worked ok there was a definite knack to hill starts when reversing into a space. Not enough revs it rolled forwards, too many revs and it shot backwards, if too slow it lost drive and have to put on handbrake half way through the manouvre. My Wife hated it when compared to her fully automatic car.

Vehicle features ok for taking test

You can use a car with:

• an electronic parking brake
• hill-start assist
• cruise control
• speed limiters
• parking sensors and cameras
• lane assist
• blind spot monitoring
• traffic sign recognition

If your car has the following features, you cannot use them during the test:

• self-parking
• Tesla autopilot
• your own sat nav

Cars you cannot use

Some cars cannot be used in the test because they do not give the examiner all-round vision.

You cannot use the following:

• any panel van (cars without rear seats or rear side windows)
• BMW 218 convertible
• BMW Mini convertible
• Ford KA convertible
• Polestar 4
• Polestar 5
• Smart Fortwo (2-door)
• Toyota iQ
• VW Beetle convertible

There might be other cars that you cannot use. This is because not every model has been used in a test before, and some may not give the examiner all-round vision.